PK 046: How 3D Artist Mohammad Hossein Attaran Defied Boundaries to Stay Creative

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Iranian 3D artist Mohammad Hossein Attaran owes his success to passion, hard work, and the online community

“With a painting, you have just one frame to tell people your message, so you have to do it!”

Living in Iran, Mohammad Hossein Attaran had all the odds stacked against him to become an artist. Yet he’s overcome all kinds of political and personal struggles to become one of the hottest 3D artists working today – and all at the tender age of 26.

Find out how he did it in this new podcast…

Firstly, art was always in Mohammad’s blood. He says: “I started painting when I was just three years’ old. In fact, my mother started collecting them! Robots and machines were my favorite things, so that’s what I used to paint.”

And this interest in all things mechanical has never left him. Despite experimenting with cartoons and caricatures in his teens, Mohammad Hossein Attaran always knew that painting robots was his true passion.

But it took a famous movie about robots to convince him to turn his passion into an art career….

From Transformers to ZBrush

“After watching Transformers, I just felt so inspired by 3D art” he explains, “so I decided to take classes in 3DS Max and teach myself ZBrush.”

He learned quickly. So quickly, in fact, that a friend thought he was a professional and decided to commission him.

That’s when Mohammad realized he had to pull out all the stops to boost his skills in ZBrush almost overnight. He says: “It was good, because it forced me to learn in a very short time and deliver the outstanding piece they wanted.”

Since then, he’s gone on to freelance regularly for Blur Studio, and has worked on numerous designs for big Chinese companies such as Sapphire Technologies.

So how did he learn so fast?

And what’s his advice for artists starting out?

“Learning a new piece of software is just like learning to use any other tool,” he explains. “The main thing you really need to have is an interest in what you’re painting.”

“There are no certain rules in art, so look at as many different artists as you can and see how they work.”

But how about the incredible compositions and sense of narrative he creates in his work?

“A portrait should always have something to say and it should always tell a story” he says.

“With a painting, you have just one frame to tell people your message, so you have to do it!”

And lastly, how does an artist from Iran get their work out there?

After all, getting your work seen is hard for any artist. But how about if you come from Iran, where political relations between this country and the USA, for example, can make this sometimes seem almost impossible?

“There are always ways to get around these problems,” says Mohammad Hossein Attaran. “The internet connects us all – it’s not about borders, countries, and politics.”

Mohammad Hossein Attaran on Staying Creative

“You can always learn and be creative wherever you live, so make the most of it! The internet enables you to to learn many things for free, and you can visit sites with huge galleries of work from great artists. So, be online, and be creative!”

Listen to this week’s show and learn:

• How to become successful – wherever you live
• Why it’s so important to tell a story with your art
• Why getting out of your comfort zone is a good thing
• How the internet has made it possible for artists all over the world to learn new skills and develop their creativity

People on this Episode:

Mitch
Mohammad

Mentioned in the episode:

Mohammad’s Website
Mohammad on ArtStation
Mohammad on Facebook

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Thanks for listening to our show! We’ll be back next Wednesday morning 8AM EST.

Cheers,

Mitch

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